Friday, 29 December 2017

The City roils over a corrupted and mutated plane of intersecting multiverses, a situation brought on by wanton abuse of magically weaponry during the Guild Wars. As such, it is a place home to a multitude of Gods, too vast to catalog. The most archetypal of holy beings do manifest in a somewhat systematic way, allowing their influence to be felt in both the weird warpings known as mutations, and the induced body reconfiguration known as augmentation. Here are four such beings. Their imminence and venerability put them above base description but their manifestations are removed enough from their holy power to allow documentation.

3) Torso: Stomach bulges, grows and is wrapped in a chitinous golden sworl, it thrums and beats harmoniously. Test CHA whenever a HD1 beasts is Nearby. If successful it is calmed and quietened.

4) Head: Faint glowing halo hovers above head, those of lawful persuasion will find you more agreeable, those chaotic less so.

The Unifying Pattern:

Augmentations, Order Bringer Patterned Couplings, d4:

1) Legs: Intricate geometric plates of metal seared to feet. May walk on air with successful WIS test Rolled at Disadvantage. Can no longer move silently.

2) Arms: White chains bolted into joints of arms, running to hand and shoulder. Roll with Advantage when attacking beings of chaos, Roll with Disadvantage when attacking neutral or lawful beings.

3) Torso: Barrell like plating of alkalizing minerals bolted around stomach. Can cancel the casting of a target’s spell once per day with a successful CON test via round long spell eating ritual.

4) Head:A perfectly geometric unihorn sprouts from forehead. Bearers of the geometric unihorn can share thoughts. Those that share the same design of unihorn Roll with Advantage when testing actions done in unison.

Mutations, Holy Rhythm Orderings, d4:

1) Legs: Feet contorted into geometric holy symbols, can walk on water but -d4 DEX.

2) Arms: Fresh birthmark like geometric pattern form on flesh daily. Interpreting these has given insight into the future, but stunted other academic pursuits. -1 INT, can re-roll one dice roll a day.

3) Torso: A rhythmic thrum surges through body when standing Close to Chaotic entities.

1) Legs: Pink fleshular flowers daily sprout along leg. If leg bare, once per day can release pollen based sleep spell, test CON, if failure caster also falls asleep.

2) Arms: Puckered anemone’s grown from fingers, release calming magic on touch. Can be used once per day per level. Those touched by calming anemones re-roll reaction roll twice, and use the “calmest” result.

3) Torso: Soft flesh flap covering pink spongy mass growing on ribs, releases calming gas once per day that causes all Nearby to Roll with Disadvantage for d10 rounds.

4) Head: Fleshy petals encase visage. Once per day a sentence length thought can be sent via pollen spore olfactory communication (Test CHA to check if message is interpreted correctly). Mind scent ever billows from petals making lying difficult (Roll with Disadvantage when attempting any sort of interpersonal subterfuge).

Thursday, 9 November 2017

A school of sorcery nigh outlawed since the coming of the Curse of the Law. The uncontrolled and corrosive practice of Elde was infamously destructive during the apocalyptic height of the Guild Wars. Any bound by the Curse of the Law, the pact of the guilds, is forbidden from using this school (by pain of instant quenchment of existence). The Guild Dogs that corrupt the streets of The City are, alas, not bound by such accords.

An elde wizard

Elde spell casting is a random potential skill of the Guild Dog character class. A pure "Elde Spellcaster" could be run in The Black Hack by simply changing "Acane Spells" of the conjurer to the spells below. Keep everything else the same as per the Conjurer class.

An elde wizard

Notes:

Getting these spells written has been eating away at me for a while, so I've pushed them out in a slight rush to at least semi nail them down. As such, they may be a little rough at times and are completely NOT in the neat, tidy and logical format of the original The Black Hack spellbooks. They may be tidied up over time, or alternately all Guild Dogs stuff may just keep getting wilder and unwieldy over time.

A few spells refer to "as determined by the gm", "random bless", "random summon", etc. These additionally tables are on their way. Use the "Aspect" table at the bottom of the post for now.

Otherworldly insight : Requires entrails as reagent to cast, the specific entrails used determine the type of insight given. Caster can consult the otherworld about a specific topic through the lense of the entrails provided. The caster will receive their level in number of points of detail in the insight.

Cause dread: Put 4d8 HD worth of beings on the cusp of terror for caster level hours. Test their WIS every round they have to do something vaguely or conceivably scary. If failed they flee for d6 rounds.

Cause horror: Test 4d8 HD worth of beings WIS, if fail they are terrified of the caster and flee from their sight for caster level hours.

S

uggestion worm: Caster summons a 1HD mind control worm. If able to penetrate the skin of a target they will follow all commons of the caster for caste level x hours.

4

Travel the lower depths: Travel through a random section of “The lower depths” to traverse an area in the physical world. Distance depends on level, random encounter check - Caster level number of sentient beings can accompany the caster. See “The Gods of the City” table.

Sacrifice to the old ones: More powerful random bless. Day long random bless on level x targets. Must sacrifice 4HD being, ceremony takes 1 hour. See “The Gods of the City” table.

Contact old one: Random elde god takes an interest in casters life for caster level days. HP, CON STR and DEX of caster halved during this time . See “The Gods of the City” table.

Voodoo: requires materials and organic material from target, cause damage from afar. 5% cumulative chance of haunting by random lower depth beasts per day when cast.

Scrying: Consciousness disconnects from the body for caster level hours. Caster may not be able to return to body, caster level x 10% is the possibility of returning to corporeal form. If returning to body fails caster must wait d6 hours to attempt to rejoin with body.

Warp area: Randomly acidify/alkalize metaphysics of an entire city block over time. transformation takes d20 days minus level days to complete. Each time this is cast the caster losts 1 STR permanently.

Dissipate to lower depths: Take on random incorporeal visage in random section of the lower depths. Appears as unconsciousness in the physical realm. Caster gains the full ability to communicate with the denizens here. Lasts up to caster level hours.

6

Unholy breeding: Gain the homunculus offspring of two things within the caster’s sight. Caster becomes pregnant with the offspring and the gestation period = d20 days hours minus caster level which the caster rolls all tests at Disadvantage. Caster loses 1 from random attribute at birth. Birthed homunculus is an independent being that views the caster as a godlike figure, but can rebel if mistreated. Birthed homunculus can level up as a player character.

Awaken old one: Sacrifice d10 hd4 beings to manifest a random elde god in the physical realm. Roll a reaction roll to see how they feel about that. See “The Gods of the City” table.